If I ever buy another electric guitar It will be one of these :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qqoKmB3...qqoKmB31eI
 
And no - I didn't know. I just found out that Prince played one when I saw this vid.

Not sure how this happened, but I'm so glad I found it. A 186mx with a 486 body shape. It's perfect (in my estimation) The longer body shape of the 486, but hollow tone and weight, maple binding all around, small dot inlays, and oh yea, the Lollar pickups make the whole package rock.

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My E20-P came with a pickguard fitted (albeit rather dull and with some faults) and my E40-00 came with no pickguard at all! 
All my other flat tops had pickguards so the E40-00 seemed the odd one out.

So, thanks to TomC and those who recommended Holter pickguards - Taylor Mullins

And there they are : 





Here's the befores :

Hi folks, I am looking for a left handed semi-hollow electric and have narrowed it down to a few choices. Us lefties have very limited options unfortunately however at the top of my list is a T486 Goldburst but not sure Eastman would be making them in a lefty as I have seen on a site that Eastman is starting to reduce what they produce for us lefties. Anyone happen to have any info or may have seen what I am looking for? I can reach out to Eastman but thought I may check here first. I know there are a few other colors however that new Goldburst finish is breathtaking.
thx!

I spotted this and thought It might be of interest :-

https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-e...ic-guitar/

Due to recent events in my life im now unable to play my acoustinc during the day. This leaves me with night time to play around.
Unfortunately acoustics are lound and are not an option, so im starting to look at electrics. Went with a cheap solid body electric (its a telecaster wannabe) + practice amp with headphones output to test if im waking everyone up when playing at night.

Seems to work - the solid body tele is almost silent, allowing me to play when my family is asleep. Slowly starting to get the hang of electrics. Playing some blues. Now i want something a bit better then a 100EUR guitar-shaped object. Ideally a Les Paul type. Wanted to save some money and ordered an Epiphone Les Paul (2020 model, Classic). Well...that turned out quite awfull - the thing arrived unplayable (cracked fretboard in 3 places, a piece of fretboard chipped off,sharp fret ends) and various finish issues. Honestly did not expect that on a 500EUR guitar. It seems that i need to go deeper. Topped up my budget to 1100EUR.

So my goal now is probably Gibson Les Paul Tribute - seems to be a great entry level USA-made single cut. Unfortunately Eastman solid body guitars like SB59 are out of my league. But then i've discovered the world of semi-hollow guitars and really like what i saw there. Eastman's T386 is exactly where i need it to be (sitting in those 1000-1200EUR range). So im starting to consider the T386 - do like the clean plugged in sound of semi-hollow body guitars more then solid body. Seems to be a great fit for me. Plus the gorgeous wide nut on the Eastman makes my sausage-fingers cry of joy.

The only thing stopping me from getting the T386  - how much louder then solid bodies are these guitars when uplugged?  Im afraid that i will not be able to play at nights if this thing gets too loud. For now im playing with my fingers, this makes playing a solid-body pretty much silent.

Thank you!

Greetings.

Wanted to share a cheap and kind of effective solution to monitor in-case temperature and humidity.
I live in a changing climate zone - very dry in winter (20-40%), humid in summer (45-70%), very humid rest of the time (even more). One day it can be 40%, next day its 70%. All of this gets me very concerned about survivability of guitars that i own.

Unfortunately keeping a non-laminate guitar outside of its case is a bad idea with such changing environment. Thus i've decided to keep all my guitars in tight cases. Tight cases are supposed to normalize the humidity conditions inside cases if i have 30%-70% humidity jumps. So, ive done it. But it kept me concerned - are the humidity levels in cases really between those 45-60% ?

This began my search on a cheap and effective way to monitor humidity levels in several cases at once and having daily\weekly\monthly statistics on temperature and humidity levels without having the need to open those cases.I do know that vendors like Daddario offer such things. But they cost a ton. My solution is 15x times cheaper
Will try to provide a simple instruction with pro's and con's of this solution.

What you will need:
1x Android or iOS smartphone  - with bluetooth and a Mi Home application installed (can be downloaded in Google\Apple stores)
1x Account with xiaomi - you will use it to login to Mi Home app. Can be created from app itself.
1x Xiaomi Mijia Bluetooth thermometer - these cost about 3-4$ on chinese trading sites like aliexpress. Be sure to take the version with screen and bluetooth. They are small + have a little sticker that you can use to stick it to any surface. Fits in any case, is powered by a battery.

How its done:
- turn on the thermometer 
- open the Mi Home app (be sure to allow it to use your phones bluetooth)
- search for available devices, it will find the thermometer
- name the device as the guitar you want to monitor
- put the thermometer in the case > close the case > viola
- use the app to connect to the thermometer when you are in the bluetooth range (about 5-10m depending on wall type\ thickness)

Pros:
- cheap as hell. Basically 3$ per case.
- this gets live and pretty accurate data
- data is being stored in the thermometer > app reads the data when you connect to thermometer. This allows you to see daily\monthly\6month graphs on how your case temperature and humidity has changed during times
- Mi APP can monitor multiple of these thermometers - so its a major plus if you have lots of cases to monitor.

Cons:
- Bluetooth only - so you are limited to those 5-10m. Thus you will not be able to see how your guitars are doing when you are outside of home.
I've given it some thought, came to a conclusion that this can be dealt with. The solution will require an active internet connection,router, a bit more investments, and some tinkering with gateways\routers\DNS (or DDNS, if your external IP is not static). 

Here are some screenshots from the app.
First one is the home screen, here you will see all your sensors. I've named mine "Eastman Case"


And here are some temperature reading for this month.
I've added the translation of my not very-firendly russian interface (the app can be used in multiple languages)



In conclusion of my little FAQ i can state that humidity in my E6D-TC case holds up pretty much ok. We had 40-75% humidity during those monitoring days that are on the last screenshot.


Hope this will be helpfull.
Cheers.

So,its been 3 months since i've gotten this beauty from a delaer in Europe. Had some time to sniff around it. And now i can make an NGD post. What can i say, its flawless. This is absolutely the best guitar that i've ever head in my life. Craftsmanship is superb. Sound is so awesome.

Cought my self just strumming open G chord for some time once i've gotten it. This is an excelent strumming machine. Cant find anything bad about it. Unexpected surprises were - the neck on the guitar is not so gloss as the finish on the body. This makes the neck look and feel more like a satin finish. Oh, and it comes with a supeb tight case.

P.S with this kind of superb instrument i will definately have trouble selecting an upgrade for the E6D-TC 

Seems like Eastman has stopped using Nitro finish on any guitar and instead switched to a urethane finish they call Truetone. The Facebook group posted a message from Eastman confirming the switch effective in late May early June this year. I'll see if I can copy the full Eastman response later.

What's your favorite Eastman model for gigging?  I mean something comfortable for loooong gigs?